Painting

Matthew 11:28 

Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.

The sweet call comes from Jesus, for the weary ones today,

Come to Him for rest and salvation, do it now without delay. 

He gives rest beyond all measure to those who truly seek,

Come to Him with every problem, every day of every week.

You will rest in our dear Savior, free from sin and all your past,

And forever you will thank Him because what you have will surely last.(RP)

I will be doing some more painting today.  I am glad I am still able to do it.  Rawlie appreciates the help and hopefully we will finish today.  The days are getting cooler and we can tell winter is around the corner.  Neither of us had a real good night last night.  I wonder what's going on?  Thanks for your faithful prayers.  Pray for Laurel as she goes through the book manuscript with a fine-tooth comb approach of finding any errors that need correcting.  

Bible Study

If I regard iniquity in my heart,The Lord will not hear.

Psa. 66:18

Praying to God with unconfessed sin, is a serious thing indeed,

For the truth of the matter is this dear one, if you do you will not succeed.(RP)

Today is the second week of our Bible study.  We finish the book of Hebrews today.  Next week we start Philippians.  The class seems excited about that.  Our editor found a flaw in the Brazil map in our book so I corrected that and submitted it to the publisher, with the hopes they won't charge a lot for this change.  The last read-through is being done now which will take some time. After that we think it will be ready for the printing press.  We pray that will be so.  Thanks so much for praying. 

More of the same

Ephesians 4:30-31

And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption. Let all bitterness, wrath, anger, clamor, and evil speaking be put away from you, with all malice.

What a mouthful this verse gives us today about how we should run our lives,

There's no doubt the counsel is good and he who obeys survives.

The Spirit is grieved when we sin, you know, so be careful what you say,

Your life will be blessed and God's peace will be yours when this verse you earnestly obey. (RP)

It is amazing all the details connected to publishing.  Yesterday we finished our read-through of the manuscript.  Then we recorded the errors found.  These will have to be written into a special form by the publisher so the technicians can make the corrections.  It all adds up to many-readings, a lot of time and energy.  We are grateful for the help of Laurel Hicks who has consented to organize all this and prepare it for the publisher. Margie was pretty tired by the time the day was over.  Today is hair day plus prayer meeting.  Thanks so much for your prayers.

Reading

Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.. 

Matthew 11:28 

Mankind is crushed with burdens to heavy for him to bear,

But Jesus is calling to them, Come to me, I care.

Oh that we'd all roll our burdens on Him today,

And find rest for our soul as we walk along the way.

(RP)

Margie and I spent much time yesterday reading through the book manuscript sent us by Xulon Press.  This is the final reading.  We divided the book and I started at page 240, she at the beginning. When we compared notes last night, she has 92 more pages to read, and I have exactly the same number to complete the book. What an interesting coincidence. We also received the cover design and made some changes to that and are awaiting a return from them for us to approve the changes. Things are moving along quite well.  We have to submit a special form with any last minute changes desired.  Our friend Laurel Hicks is helping on this project, which we appreciate so much.  Thanks, dear friends, for praying.

Book progress

Ephesians 2:1-3 

And you He made alive, who were dead in trespasses and sins...

The day God gave me spiritual life was the greatest of them all,

And I'm rejoicing in this fact and this wonderful verse by Paul.

I was dead in trespasses and in sin, and He really rescued me,

When I put my trust in Him, from my sins He set me free.(RP)

Yesterday morning we were delightfully surprised when Xulon Press send us the formatted provisional phase of our book deal with them.  Now we go through it again, finding any irregularities, errors, or things we would like to change.  There is a special process to do these things and are given explicit instructions how to do it.  We are impressed with their thoroughness.  Our dear friend Laurel Hicks has graciously accepted our request to help with this.  She has a gift for seeing things that need change, etc.   So please pray as we all read through the book again.  No, we do not get tired reading it many times.  We rejoice that that the Lord has allowed us to put in writing some of the many experiences we were privileged to have while serving in Brazil.  Please continue your prayers.  Margie's retina specialist yesterday said her eyes were better and he is still working on getting rid of the clot in one eye.  She received another injuection in her right eye.  Thanks so much for praying.

Easing up

Matthew 19:14 

But Jesus said, Suffer little children, and forbid them not, to come unto me: for of such is the kingdom of heaven.

The world looks at children much differently, than the way God really sees them, 

God knows their hearts and how they think, each one to Him is a precious gem.

Jesus wanted the children to come to Him, and He instructed the disciples so,

For of such is the kingdom of heaven, you see, and this He wants us to know.(RP)

Maybe things will ease some, now that several items on our to-do list are checked off.  Rawlie and Gina dropped by for a short visit yesterday afternoon.  It was nice to see them, even though we had just been there at their place painting on Saturday.  Hopefully we can help Rawlie finishing the painting this week. We are waiting for the book cover design to be drawn before the book format is returned to us for a final review.  Please pray about this and also for Margie. Today the retina specialist will evaluate her present condition.  We pray it has improved. Thanks so much for praying. 

Painting

2 Corinthians 5:10 

For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that each one may receive the things done in the body, according to what he has done, whether good or bad.

A solemn word from the Lord today about Christians and the judgment seat,

At this appointed place, someday every believer in Christ will meet.

Our lives will pass in review that day, before Jesus the Judge of the earth,

And everything we've done will be examined as to its worth.

So much will be burned as rubbish, because it was not done for the Lord,

But for everything done to honor Him, He has promised us reward.(RP)

Yesterday we drove to Stanwood, where I helped Rawlie paint his house.  We also went Labor Day. Rawlie appreciates our help and we enjoy doing it.  We returned home tired but rejoicing we could be a help to our son. Today we look forward to church.  It is the start of the missions conference.  Thanks for your prayers,